


the breakthrough

by spa_ghetto



Category: The Unlisted (TV 2019)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Brothers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spa_ghetto/pseuds/spa_ghetto
Summary: "Please Kal, I got through to you in the tunnels!"What DID happen in the tunnels anyway?
Relationships: Dru Sharma & Kal Sharma
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	the breakthrough

**Author's Note:**

> hi so, I finished watching this show on Netflix at the beginning of the week and since then, I've rewatched it five more times. I'm kind of obsessed??? idk if there's even a fandom for this show but heck, I'll help fill up the tag. there's a few more ideas where this comes from
> 
> major spoilers for the last episode. this takes place at the end of e14! :)

Dru definitely wasn’t the strong one of the two—Kal always overpowered him, even without the implant—but he fought with everything in him when Kal trapped him in the tunnels. He struggled in his brother’s hold, pushing and shoving, desperate to get away, to put distance between them… to run, possibly. He didn’t want to leave, but Kal wasn’t Kal, and… and maybe he was just too dangerous to be around right now.

“What’re you doing?” Kal demanded. He tightened his hold around Dru for only a moment before shoving him away. “What am _I_ doing?” He looked around. “Why’re we in the tunnels?”

Dru watched Kal. He shuffled backward, tiny steps to not make any noise, eyes never leaving his brother. “Are you back?” he asked. “Is that actually you in there?”

“Yeah? Of course it is.” He frowned at Dru. “Why? Did they… make me do something?”

Dru’s gaze dropped to the ground. “Listen, uh—I have a plan for the Global Child Congress.” He reached into his back pocket and finally, finally moved closer to show Kal the device. “You have to wear this to block out the implant’s control, so you don’t…” He glanced at Kal then away quickly.

Kal rolled his eyes. “I can tell you’re hiding something. Fill me in, please! The last thing I remember was Emma Ainsworth asking about the implants.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened after that either.” Though, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Emma took full control of Kal, then she sent him after Dru. She wanted Kal to turn him in. His own brother. Dru clenched his jaw.

“Then how about you tell me how I got here?” Kal toed the concrete. “I hate this place.”

Dru pretended like he didn’t hear him, “So, we need to switch places at the event.” He turned the device over in his hands.

“No, you aren’t coming to the Congress. You can’t; Emma knows you’re Unlisted.”

“I know, but this is our last chance to stop her before it’s too late!” Dru shouted. If this didn’t work… Kal would be gone. Dru would probably never see his family again. The thought made him sick to his stomach. He leaned against a wall, tore his glasses off, and rubbed his eyes.

Kal stood next to him. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

Dru sighed. As he slipped his glasses back on, he said quietly, “She took complete control of you.”

“Yeah, I figured.” Kal focused on a pile of gravel at his feet, nudging pebbles with his toe and kicking rocks to the side.

“She sent you after me.”

Kal stilled.

“After I hacked into what I thought was the mainframe and shut it down, but I was caught leaving. I hid with Dadi and the others, and you found us a few hours later.”

Kal turned to Dru. He looked him over slowly, eyebrows furrowed like he was searching for something. “Then what happened?” he asked.

“You chased us across town. I split from the others, since you were only after me, and now we’re here.”

Kal pushed off the wall. His hands closed into fists and he scoffed. “I can’t believe they—That wasn’t me.”

Dru nodded, but he didn’t answer.

“I wouldn’t—” Kal turned to him. He shook his head. “Dru, I wouldn’t….”

“I know, but when I saw you in the cinema, I…” Dru looked away. “I just couldn’t believe that was actually you.”

“It wasn’t!”

Dru stared at the green device in his hands. He just wanted all of this to be over.

“Are you alright?” Kal asked. “Did they… did I hurt you?” He stared at Dru with serious eyes that he just always had, long before any of this madness started. Kal could be intimidating when he wanted to be. Guess Emma Ainsworth chose the right elite to represent her project.

“No. I’m fine.” He wondered—briefly, because he couldn’t let himself get caught up in it—what Implanted Kal planned to do when he finally caught Dru. Did he expect a peaceful cooperation, or was Kal prepared to use force? A chill ran down his spine. He held the device out. “This will block the implant from taking control. We’re going to switch places at the Congress, so I can destroy the activation tablet and you don’t get discovered.”

Kal nodded slowly. “Okay.” He shrugged off his blazer and rolled up his sleeve. He watched Dru attach the device to his arm. “What of the others?”

“I don’t know, they should be okay. Dadi had a meeting point set up for us.” The device switched on with a low hum. “There, that should block the implant’s frequencies long enough for us to stop Emma Ainsworth.”

Kal nodded again. He tugged his sleeve down. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Dru rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Me too.”

“Come on, we should get home.” Kal pulled his blazer back on. “Big day tomorrow, yeah?” He jerked his head toward the tunnel entrance and turned to leave.

“Kal?”

Kal looked back at him with his eyebrows raised expectantly. That was his go-to look, especially when he and Vidya catch a bubble of silence mid argument and they just stare, challenging the other to keep the fighting going. Dru was usually the mediator between his siblings, and he typically hated it. But if listening to Kal and Vidya fight for the rest of his life meant tomorrow would go right and he wouldn’t lose Kal forever, he’d take it. In a heartbeat.

Dru stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He buried his face in Kal’s shoulder, and when Kal wrapped his arms around him, Dru just… He couldn’t stop thinking about how this could be the last time they embraced like this. Imagine that, their last hug in a cold, abandoned tunnel. Fitting for the way the entire situation chilled his bones and made him sick.

“Don’t tell me you’re freaking out now,” Kal teased. He didn’t loosen his hold. “We’re ending things tomorrow, right?”

“Right.”

Kal pulled away with a smirk. “Don’t let Emma Ainsworth get away with messing with my head, alright?”

Dru breathed a laugh. He smiled halfheartedly. “Yeah, I won’t.”

Kal slung an arm around Dru’s shoulders and steered him out of the tunnels. Dru leaned into him, and this time, he didn’t savor the touch like it would be their last.

Because it wouldn’t be.

Tomorrow, they were going to bring the fight to Emma Ainsworth.

And they were going to win.


End file.
